Reba Meyers’ Clouded World EP feels like an exhale suspended between confession and combustion, a sonic portrait of an artist standing at the intersection of past and future. Across six tracks, Meyers melds analog grit with digital haze, channeling emotion through distortion, reverb, and subtle restraint. This is music that doesn’t just hit—it lingers, carving space for reflection amid catharsis.
The opening title track, “Clouded World”, sets the tone immediately. Fast, scratchy guitars and restless, intricate drumming create tension without aggression; the music is cathartic rather than angry. Meyers’ voice cuts through the fog with screams that release rather than burn, layered atop a chunky, grounding bass that keeps the sonic chaos tethered. The song channels the shimmer of early-2000s emo and the muscularity of ’90s alt-rock, blending nostalgia with raw, modern intensity. Here, punk is refracted through layers of sonic texture, capturing the duality of chaos and control that runs through the EP.
“Certain Uncertainty” dives deeper into paradox. The guitars are rich and layered, the vocals thick, melodic, and emotionally exposed, reminiscent of Alanis Morissette’s candid delivery but filtered through a heavier, moodier lens. Meyers’ screams hit harder here—not from rage, but from reckoning. The track folds inward, collapsing into itself as layered vocals intertwine, reflecting on tension, confusion, and emotional confrontation.
With “Got Your Hold on Me”, Meyers opens a colder, more cinematic dimension. Pulsing synths undergird her voice, creating an atmosphere that is mechanical yet mournful, like a neon-lit noir scene or a cinematic action sequence. The repeated vocal motif acts as a hypnotic mantra, exploring themes of obsession, control, and vulnerability. A distant, smoky guitar solo threads the organic with the synthetic, emphasizing the EP’s ongoing dialogue between human emotion and textured soundscapes.
“Sanctuary” provides a moment of rest, with airy guitars, deep drums, and spacious arrangements that allow Meyers’ softer vocal register to emerge. The track is the EP’s most stripped-down moment, yet its interplay between reverb-laden tenderness and sudden surges into distortion demonstrates that even quietness carries weight. Here, she shows mastery over dynamics, creating a sense of shelter and emotional breathing space.
“Lust Forbidden” reintroduces tension with industrial textures. Deep synths and heavy bass underpin vocals that float between intimacy and distance, as though conveyed through static. Layered screams flicker behind the beat, while stringy guitar motifs appear and vanish, giving the track a haunting, alien quality. Meyers bends familiar forms into new emotional territory, merging mechanical precision with raw humanity.
Finally, “Bring Us All Together” serves as the EP’s emotional and sonic apex. Dense, slow riffs bleed into layered vocals and thunderous bass, evoking the swell and decay of a storm cloud. Meyers stretches her voice from husky vulnerability to raw intensity, while a razor-edged, ’90s-inspired guitar solo cuts through the haze. The track, and the EP as a whole, explores the coexistence of beauty and violence, showing that sound can wound and heal simultaneously.
Throughout Clouded World, Meyers’ greatest strength is her ability to let emotion shape music rather than constrain it. Guitars don’t merely accompany her—they translate her feelings; synths frame her voice without overwhelming it. The result is an EP haunted by the ghosts of alternative rock yet unafraid to inhabit its own contemporary landscape. Six songs, six moods, one cohesive vision: Clouded World is less a collection of tracks than a weather system of pressure, release, and catharsis. Meyers doesn’t clear the skies—she learns to live inside them.
NOTABLE TRACKS:
Certain Uncertainty
Sanctuary
Bring Us All Together